After finishing a quaint little bowl of noodles downstairs at Fairwood (a fast food restaurant here in HK), I whipped out my copy of “A World of Difference” and began reading again (I had put it aside for quite awhile, started and finished “Dethroning Jesus” before this). Here’s a direct quote from a side box on page 111, headed “Does It Make Sense to Believe the Bible Is a Revelation from God?”:
Historic Christianity considers the Bible to be the propositional Word of God. The following list offers six reasons why it is intellectually credible to believe the Bible is God’s actual revelation to man.
- Unlike most other religious books, the Bible is uniquely connected to history. Therefore, many of its central claims are open to historical investigation (verification/falsification).
- To some degree, a number of the scriptural accounts (though certainly not all) have been corroborated or supported by extrabiblical historical sources and archaeological evidence.
- The bibliographic evidence (manuscript abundance, authenticity, and integrity) on the part of the Bible far surpasses all other ancient literary works, secular and religious.
- Though written in antiquity, the Bible presents a cosmology (a singular beginning to all matter, energy, time, and space) that matches well with the prevailing views of modern science.
- The Bible appeals to the fulfillment of prophecy and to miracles to substantiate its claims. Both areas can be evaluated in terms of their historical accuracy and explanatory power and scope.
- The Bible presents a realistic view of human beings (their nature, predicament, and resolution) and offers a world-and-life view that is rational, viable, and existentially fulfilling for humanity.
Surely and obviously, this list is nothing close to 100% absolute proof that the Bible is the Word of God, as it claims itself to be–all it does help us and our discussion along by putting ideas in the realm of probability. The above reasons and reasoning for the Bible’s authenticity as being what it says it is can never consequentially result in guaranteed acceptance of the Bible as truth (i.e. there’s going to be some, if not many people who will still think it’s all a hoax or some sort of conspiracy even in light of sound reasoning). It can, however, suggest with a very high degree of probability that the Bible is more likely as credible and reliable as it claims to be. Reasoning and rationalization cannot create faith in something, but it can substantiate and supplement faith in something.
Hopefully, some nay-sayers to the Bible’s truthiness (to borrow from Colbert’s vocabulary) based on intellectual reasons will have been softened by this excerpt. Alternatively, perhaps this quote has provided good material and stimulus for consideration for already-believers of the Bible who needed some additional support for their God-given faith.